COVID-19 in Alberta: Province sets new case record for 3rd time this week, adds 4K new cases

Alberta broke its record for daily new cases of COVID-19 for the third time within a week on Thursday, with approximately 4,000 new infections reported over the last 24 hours. 

The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital rose again, up to 371 from 349 the day before. There are 48 coronavirus patients in intensive care units included in those 371, a decrease of nine from the day before. 

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Hospitalization and case numbers are subject to revision to account for reporting delays, the province says.

It's the fifth straight hospitalizations have increased over the day before.

Test positivity rose again, up to about 30 per cent, which would also be a pandemic high. To date, the seven highest values have all come in the last seven days. 

The province’s limited data update did not include any new information on deaths, active cases, vaccinations or variants. 

The three highest daily case counts of the pandemic have all come in the last five days. 

The province’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, was initially scheduled to speak in-person today but will instead join a meeting of the province’s COVID-19 cabinet committee, “to discuss the latest cabinet developments and trends with the Omicron variant and the ongoing work to protect Albertans.”

She will return on Friday for an in-person update. Alberta’s next full data update is scheduled for Jan. 4.